College of Business

The first Financial Literacy Class geared toward youth who are entering the workforce was launched by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend. A total of 22 students enrolled in the class and received instruction on topics such as banking, taxes, and budgeting during the workshop held on July 21-22 at the Coastal Compass Education and Resource Center at La Palmera Mall.

The College of Business and the South Texas Economic Development Center at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi partnered with Workforce Solutions to offer the class taught by Scott Kruse, Professional Assistant Professor of Accounting at TAMU-CC. The two-day training program is aimed to serve low-income individuals without a college education and deliver basic financial literacy skills to help them flourish in their career and personal lives. This program was also taken in partial fulfillment of employment requirements for job seekers at Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend.

“The program on financial literacy was set up to give tools to young students entering the workforce to understand concepts such as taxes, banking and income, as well as teach them how to manage their money,” said Kruse.

The new program was offered to these participants through Workforce Solutions of the Coastal Bend’s “Emerging Leaders Initiative (Project ELI).” Project ELI provides guidance on “In-Demand Occupations” throughout the Coastal Bend and allows participants to experience these careers through on-going, meaningful career exploration and subsidized employment activities. The participants, who were between the ages of 18-22, were mostly job seekers in the Coastal Bend, many of whom are in search of first-time jobs.

In addition to this July training session, Kruse will conduct a “Train the Trainers” session to be held later this year.